1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention are directed generally to a semiconductor device and method thereof, and more particularly to a semiconductor device and method of protecting the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electronic fuse (“e-fuse”) may include first and second terminals, the first and second terminals collectively having a resistance with a magnitude which may approximate a few hundred ohms. The resistance at the first and second terminals may increase to several megaohms if a voltage is applied at the first and second terminals, thereby causing the e-fuse to acquire insulating characteristics.
An e-fuse may thereby be characterized as having a first state and a second state. The first state may correspond to a lower resistance or conductive state and the second state may correspond to a higher resistance or insulative state. In the first state, the e-fuse may have a resistance with an approximate magnitude of a few hundred ohms (e.g., if a voltage is not applied to the e-fuse). In the second state, the e-fuse may have a resistance with an approximate magnitude of several megaohms (e.g., if a voltage is applied to the e-fuse). Since the resistance of the e-fuse may be responsive to an applied voltage, the e-fuse may be employed in a semiconductor memory device, such as a read-only memory (ROM).
An e-fuse state may be set in accordance with control signals applied by a control logic. However, if a voltage applied to the e-fuse becomes unstable (e.g., an voltage spike output by control logic), the e-fuse may be damaged.